You may all be wondering what I'm rambling on about now, the pro-archetype,

anti-"fun-deck", "There should be a law against Modified" guy.  Well, it's a

great strategy for people in STSQTs to gain a legal upper hand.

If you have already won an STSQT, then continue to go to any QTs convenient. 

Attempt to get as far as possible, but once in the top 8, give all of the

weaker players advice in between rounds on how to beat their opponents. 

Hopefully, because of this, one of the weaker players will make it in the

finals, and thus you have "locked out" some of the more powerful competition,

possibly giving yourself an easier time in the STS.

There's only one thing WIzards could do to make this strategy better:

Wizards ruled that if a person wins an STSQT, and goes to another STSQT and

makes it to the finals, they must concede that match.  One of two things

should be done about this:

(Impractical) Allow the player who already won an STSQT to win the second set

of trips, locking out another competitor (Yeah...I know this is stupid, but

the article IS about Lockout...)

(Practical) If the previous STSQT player wins again, they choose which trip

to take.  The other trip would be passed on to the second place player in

that particular tourney.  This way, the champion could choose whoever was the

weaker player to get the free trip, again "locking out" a potential rival.

Unfortunately, this isn't how it is, and the player must concede the final

match.  The only legal thing a STSQT winner can do to stack the odds in his

favor within the rules is to help weaker players win any other QTs he or she

goes to that year.

I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but I think it's time for people to

gain the upper hand while staying within the rules, working off of

technicalities.

Flames, comments, more flames, hate mail, and additional flames can be sent

to MewtwoStruckBack@aol.com